Bay County continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the Great Lakes Bay Region, according to statistics released Thursday by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

View full sizeIn February, Bay County’s unemployment rate was 14 percent and Saginaw County’s was 13.7 percent, according to the latest state figures.

Midland County’s unemployment rate was reported at 10.9 percent for February, according to the report.

All three counties in the Great Lakes Bay Region showed a 0.5 percentage point or less decrease from January to February as the labor force continues to shrink.

“It’s not a lot, but the labor force declined for all the metro areas in the state,” said Rhea Acuna, Great Lakes Bay Region labor analyst with the state’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. “The labor force was flat over the month and the labor force has been stable over the past couple of months.”

Historically, the decreases in the unemployment rates will continue into April and possibly May because of seasonal hiring for summer work.

The Great Lakes Bay Region’s unemployment rate of 13.2 percent in February is still lower than the state’s unemployment rate of 14.6 percent in February.

January statistics marked the first time since April 2000 that Bay County has had a higher unemployment rate than auto-industry-reliant Saginaw County. The unemployment rates then were 3.5 percent in Bay County and 3.4 percent in Saginaw County.

Acuna said Bay County had a higher unemployment rate than Saginaw County from January 2000 to April 2000.

January statistics also marked the first time since the recession of the early 1980s that Bay and Saginaw counties recorded unemployment levels of more than 14 percent.